An A-Z of The Fall - C (part 2)
C is for...
Cock(ed)
'Cock' or 'cocker' was a friendly term used frequently by MES. Karl Burns directed it at Smith in a far less friendly fashion during the 1998 Brownies meltdown (see B part 2).
'Stout Man' from Sub-Lingual Tablet was based on The Stooges' 'Cock In My Pocket'.
'Cocked' was the working title for what became Interim, a 2004 collection of live and rehearsal recordings. The word also appears in the lyric of the Interim version of 'What About Us?'
Cog Sinister
In 1987, the rights to some of The Fall's early songs reverted to Smith. This inspired him to set up his own label, Cog Sinister. The idea was to support releases by obscure and interesting artists, financed by profits from re-releasing The Fall’s old material. The name came from Smith’s belief that his ‘pre-cog’ abilities would enable him to spot new talent and neglected geniuses. Brix claimed that she came up with the name:
'I remember suggesting the name. It was an amalgamation of Cogswell Cogs – the name of the company George Jetson worked for on the postmodern American cartoon The Jetsons – and Bend Sinister, our recent album.'
The first output from the label was Palace Of Swords Reversed, a compilation of album, single and live Fall tracks from the early 80s.
Very little non-Fall material was ever released. A compilation called The Disparate Cogscienti was released in 1988, including tracks by The Hamsters, The Lowthers, Andrew Berry and The Next Step. There was also a single by Phil Shöenfelt called 'Charlotte's Room').
When the group signed with Fontana (a subsidiary label of the Phonogram group) in 1989, the Cog Sinister imprint was used for The Fall's releases; this arrangement continued when they signed to Permanent.
The deal that MES signed with Rob Ayling in 1997 allowed Ayling's Voiceprint label to release a plethora of highly variable Fall live LPs using the Cog Sinister imprint.
Julian Cope
Teardrop Explodes front man Julian Cope was, like Echo And The Bunnymen's Ian McCulloch, a loyal supporter of The Fall in the early days. Kay Carroll described the pair as ‘really good friends… [they] would just start helping us with the gear without me even asking…’
'Two Steps Back' suggests that Cope sold the group drugs: 'I don't need the acid factories / I've got mushrooms in the fields / Julian said "How was the gear?"' Cope was delighted by the reference but denied ever supplying the group with drugs: ‘although Mark and I talked a lot about drugs in a purely theoretical sense, I was actually very straight-edge at the time. So I never sold him anything. I'm sorry if that's disappointing.’
Corsa
'Touch Sensitive' was used in an advert for the Vauxhall Corsa. ‘I didn’t have full control over that', Smith said, 'and at the time I needed the money. Sometimes that’s the sad case. We’re not all Elton John.’
The Cramps
In March 1980, The Fall embarked on a short UK tour to promote ‘Fiery Jack’, accompanied by then labelmates The Cramps. Although Steve Hanley was impressed with them (‘they're a treat to watch, rockabilly at its most extreme’), the tour was a fractious affair, with predictable disputes about who was headlining each night.
There's a passing similarity between 'Sunglasses After Dark' and 'Ol' Gang' in the 'knife fight' / 'fist fight' lines.
Credits
Dubious song-writing credits were a Fall tradition. Martin Bramah's contributions to Dragnet were expunged; The Frenz Experiment saw Smith officially writing most of the album, which Brix saw as a reflection of her deteriorating relationship with him; Simon Wolstencroft and Dave Bush were serially robbed on Middle Class Revolt; The Twenty-Seven Points saw Bush being erased from history; Jim Watts left the group because he was 'sick of the whole credits/royalties charade'; Barbato, Presley and McCord's credit for 'Systematic Abuse' made little sense as the song was debuted live two months before they even joined the group; Barbato wasn't recognised for 'Fifty Year Old Man'; Steve Trafford received no recognition for the 'Blindness' bass line. The list goes on...
The perversity of Fall songwriting credits is perhaps best illustrated by 'Outro' from Reformation Post TLC. A single note repeated in batches of three for 36 seconds, it apparently required the song-writing skills of five people.
George Cruikshank
Fiend With A Violin was one of the avalanche of Fall compilations on Receiver Records that emerged in the second half of the 90s. Its garish red cover was based on an illustration by Victorian caricaturist and illustrator George Cruikshank.
Cruikshank's illustration, set in Hyde Park, was taken from an 1856 temperance pamphlet, 'The Bands in the Park'.
Cunliffe
Real surname of Grant Showbiz. He first met Smith at the 1978 Deeply Vale festival and went on to produce several Fall releases, including Dragnet, Slates, and The Unutterable, and also manned the sound desk at innumerable gigs over the years.
He picked up his nickname whilst working for space-rockers and Gong collaborators Here & Now: ‘For our national tour I turned up with a briefcase which was promptly thrown from the tour bus on to the motorway. They called me Showbiz after that. It’s a great name for me; it stops me being too serious.’
He got a vocal credit on The Unutterable for his contribution to 'Octo Realm' ('Hi! I'm Spliffhead, I like to lie on the floor') and was also mentioned in 'Noise' from Re-Mit ('emperor Cunliffe has made them play'), MES pronouncing his name 'Cun-liffy'.
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